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Friday, June 15, 2007

Hey, Thomas! Get the Lead Out!

Our kids’ world is toxic. Thomas the Tank Engine, that hero of little kids everywhere, and people with autism of ALL ages has a recall on some of its wood trains. Here’s the latest recall.

Take a good look at the list. How many of the recalls are for lead? That’s a lot of plumbum going into babies’ mouths and onto children’s hands, which end up in their mouths. Do you wonder what that lead does to their systems? How it might impair a child’s ability to excrete other toxins? Massachusetts requires a lead test for all preschool children. Does your state? And do you know what doctors do for children who test high in lead. They chelate them with chemical chelators like EDTA. Lead is a metal. A heavy metal. Got to get it out of the system.

By the way, think any of these toys are made in the USA? I fear that soon we Americans are going to be flown to China to copulate so that our children too can wear a tag that says "Made in China."

8 comments:

Hi Kim, I posted about this yesterday. I am just stunned because, of course, my son owns EVERY ITEM ON THE LIST. This just kills me. I haven't yet worked up the nerve to tell him the toys have to go. Never mind that he'll get replacements, I've no doubt he'll be another year older by the time that happens. Ugh.

John, I'm chewing! I'm chewing! Will that promise me my book deal? By the way, I'm reading POssible Side Effects and I ARORE it. I've had tears of laughter streaming down my face while reading. Tell Augusten TWO THUMBS UP from Kim.

We did have 3 of the recalled trains, and I threw them away. However my son didn't play with those, he only liked the Thomas engine and a couple of cargo trains that weren't on the recall list. So I'm not really concerned about that.

I don't think the world is more toxic now than it was when I grew up. Like John said, WE grew up on lead painted houses. I put mercury on my boo-boos, got mercury amalgams (a bunch) on my teeth and had massive antibiotic treatments as a small child... Cars were more pollutant, industries had much less environmental regulations to comply.

I packed up James and the Ice Cream Factory (how did we end up with that anyway, being on a casein-free diet?) among others and sent them back Saturday. Saturday afternoon I saw that if you look VERY carefully you can see the lot number on the bottom of the engines (dark gray on black - really easy to read, that!) and then was thinking half of the stuff I sent back was probably OK. Well, at least until the next time.